As we begin our work in support of Iraq's newly emergent NGOs we find ourselves looking at two Iraqs at once. There are over 150 NGOs connected by the ICSSI, and they are doing marvelous work as leaders in a civil society movement that is helping more and more people each day. Scores of international peace workers are now working to help them, mintoring, guiding, training, and most of all listening to them delineate their needs. This is the hopeful face of a new Iraq.
On the other hand, yesterday, Baghdad saw 5 bombings and an assassination attempt. 33 people died , and 84 people were wounded. [IraqToday] The rest of the country was still wrapped in newly resurgent rounds of violence as 9 adults and one child were killed, and 4 wounded were recorded.
Mosul has become a particular region of concern. Long after the 2008 top-secret cables revealed the extent to which the Coalition Forces ignored repeated random attacks on Sunnis in the area, the problem not only persists, but has been on the rise in recent months, peaking just days ago.
Captured Libyan documents indicate Gaddafi supported a number of Baathists who were intending to overthrow the Iraqi government. This has led to mass arrests in Mosul, and surrounding areas of Ninewa Province, of suspected Baathists.
While Maliki's State of law Coalition and followers of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr praised the actions, the people of Mosul were planning mass protests against what they see as a politically motivated campaign against Sunnis in the area. Security forces announced that the arrest campaign was directed against Baath Party elements who were planning to sabotage the country.
The government responded to the planned protests with a curfew. They denied that the curfew was intended to stifle the protesters, instead claiming it was in the interests of safety.
All this while Iraqi-led organizations, small land large, (e.g., Iraqi Children and Women, Women's Freedom, Kids and Environment, Save the Children-Iraq, Women for Peace, , LaOnf-Noviolence, ... [the list goes on and on since there are now hundreds of such NGOs in the country]) are changing the mind-set of Iraqis young and old. At the same time that they deliver direct aid (monetary, physical, and psychological), they are also teaching.
Their overall lesson: Iraq can be changed by Iraqis, and this change can happen without violence, if Iraqis are committed to working together across all the ethnic/religious/political divides that hinder progress.
Comments